July should be a nice, slow and relaxing time of the year. At PrivateLessons.com, however, there is no slowing down. This July 05’, we already tripled our business over July 04’, and today is only the 19th of the month.
That’s nothing to complain about, but seems like a decent excuse for taking a short vacation from blogging.
Advertising, promotion, PR, publicity -- which is it?
As small businesses, independent music teachers wear many hats. Marketing is an overall umbrella of several activities.
Marketing is a strategic function (see Invaluable Skills), supported by tactical activities: advertising, promotion, public relations and publicity, to achieve sales.
Here is a quote from "Promoting Issues and Ideas" by M. Booth and Associates, Inc that helps bring it all into focus.
... if the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying 'Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday', that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.
If there were one single magic road to building a successful music-teaching studio, it’d be way too crowded. How nice that there are so many roads to achieving success. One can study the "how-to" books with bullet point steps, but after all the basics, what makes us each unique and how we deal with people is where the opportunity lies.
This blog touches on many areas to think about. So if you, the music teacher, extract one meaningful thing that strikes the right chord with you, then you are on the way.
Philly is rocking this weekend. To raise awareness in support of African aid, on July 2nd is the Live 8 event on Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. The event brings out mega stars like Philly's own Will Smith, Dave Mathews Band and Stevie Wonder (all performers). The weekend ends with an appearance by Sir Elton John on July 4th (all performers).
Some estimates suggest that the Parkway (map) fits 400,000. The city expects 1,000,000 people, maybe more. Forget picnic blankets. If you are planning to camp out between the two events, in case you wish to keep your spot, learn to sleep standing up, pronto!
Since the events are only a few city blocks from us, here are two photos of the stage in preparation mode.
The stage is on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. It looks like the main television camera, the window to the world, is in place.
Remember Rocky? That’s the spot at the top Art Museum Steps. I didn’t jump up and down, didn’t want the picture to make you dizzy. Here's the backstage and Philly skyline, nearly 30 years since the movie.
Founded in 1996, PrivateLessons.com is an exclusive membership of professional musicians helping private music students discover the joy of music making.
